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Plastic bags for crusty breads?

Plastic bags for crusty breads?

Hi, I am getting geared up to sell bread at a local farmers market. Health regulations say the bread must be covered so I am looking at options. My inclination is to keep plastic out of it, as it is a crust destroyer, but its hard to sell bread if people can't see it. I know some bakeries use perforated plastic, but I'm worried about that too. Any opinions? Anyone done a taste test on uncovered bread versus bread in a perforated plastic bag? Thanks. -Varda

Perforated bags work well for me so far. I recently purchased a small quantity of these bags (from www.NYBakers.com for those that want to know) to test, and so far I have liked the results. I used the bags to package some sourdough from my WFO to hold it for a couple of days to gift at a gathering of friends. The crusts were still crunchy 48 hours later. Your mileage may vary but they have worked far better for me than the typical plastic bakery goods bag.

Hi. Great to get your comments. I just went to the local farmer's market to research the situation, and saw all of the above. One baker had wicker boxes with plastic lift tops where they kept the smaller goods. These seem to work really well. They also had paper bags with wide plastic inserts. I didn't buy one of there loaves so not sure about that. A second baker had all their loaves in perforated plastic bags with twist ties. I bought a sourdough loaf. Delicious bread but I felt that the crust was indeed compromised. Not a trace of brittleness. It is raining today though so maybe it's the rain and not the plastic bags. Does anyone know where to buy the boxes with the plastic tops? Thanks. -Varda

I do not know if this is to be sort of a hobby for you or a profit making undertaking or something in-between. Should you essentially be going into business with profit in mind, I would advise that you look closely at the per loaf cost of the packaging. There are some great looking packages out there that are just too expensive to wrap around a simple loaf of bread if you are going to be using hundreds of them on an ongoing basis.

Jeff, I haven't made any money yet - still in the hole with a lot of start up costs - but I am not trying not to make money. Whether we will describe this as a hobby or a business is yet to be determined. I just bought a tray with a hinged polycarbonate cover at restaurant depot. It was relatively inexpensive but more expensive in the short term than bags. I already bought a large quantity of paper bags (lunch bag style) extremely cheap. My plan is to display some breads in the case, and keep the rest in large brown paper bags, then transfer to the small paper bags when sold. Hopefully this will be a good plan. I'll find out on Saturday. Thanks for your help. -Varda

It must be different in new york than in California, because the bakers here can typically have their breads half-covered by a paper bag, stacked on a table under their tent, and then for purchase they slide it completely into the bag and hand it off. I dont know how the legality of that would go over in new york but id think it was worth looking into for price purposes. Although they do have their pastries, scones, muffins etc in a closed display case

and not legal. Must be covered. Have just been through this with the environmental health agent who just issued my license. The farmers markets make this a rule, so that they are in compliance. Thanks. -Varda

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